Appleton is getting a new Children's Wisconsin clinic. Here's what you need to know.
APPLETON - Children’s Wisconsin is opening a clinic in Appleton today that will change the direction in which families from around the state travel for care.
The clinic will provide care in over 20 specialties that were originally only available on the Milwaukee campus. The expansion will provide care closer to home for families in the Fox Valley and north-central Wisconsin, said Katie Stanley, manager of ambulatory services at Children’s Wisconsin.
This isn't the hospital's first northern location, however; it also a location within ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah and clinics in De Pere and Appleton. In-patient services in Neenah will continue, while most of the other services will move to the new Appleton site.
Here's what you need to know about the new clinic.
Care for over 70,000 patients a year
The 53,000-square-foot building is located at East Evergreen Drive, just east of North Ballard Road.
The new, larger clinic will be able to provide pediatric care to around 70,000 patients a year, about 50,000 more than the other northeast locations were able to support.
About 30,000 patients in the area have to travel to the Milwaukee campus for care. The new Appleton clinic will now be able to bring most of that care right to the Fox Valley.
However, patients will still need to drive to Milwaukee for sedated procedures.
More specialties, plus pediatric imaging
Originally, Children's Wisconsin provided limited treatment and services in 13 specialties in the region. With the new space, it will expand that list to 22, including audiology, gastroenterology, asthma and allergy, and cardiology.
Existing services Children’s Wisconsin offers in the region that will move to the new clinic, and are expected to expand over the next five years, include:
Asthma/allergy
Audiology
Cardiology/cardiac echocardiography
Diabetes/endocrinology
Gastroenterology
Nephrology
Neurology
Physical and occupational therapy
Pulmonary
Speech therapy/language pathology
Other services expected to move to the Appleton site and expand include nutrition, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and orthopedics.
The clinic also offers a newly-created pediatric imaging and laboratory.
Additionally, child-life specialists, who will work closely with families before they arrive and during their appointments to make the children more comfortable, will be available, and Children's Wisconsin will work with pediatric primary care providers in the region to add to advanced care options.
A center for pediatric care for the region
At the Neenah hospital, wait times are typically 45 minutes to an hour, according to Nicole Nelson, director of regional services. The new clinic will reduce some of that delay, and provide essential follow-up care to procedures done in Milwaukee, so families can save time during recovery.
"We have some families who live just a few minutes from here — they would drive two hours to Milwaukee for a five minute appointment," Nelson said.
It will especially "bridge" the gap for pediatric care for families specifically in north and central Wisconsin, who had to drive down to Milwaukee typically, Stanley said.
Appointments will open March 6.
Benita Mathew is a health and science reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. Contact Benita at bmathew@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @benita_mathew.
More:Children's Wisconsin will expand in 2023 with a new Appleton clinic offering pediatric labs, imaging
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton Children's Wisconsin clinic will provide many Milwaukee services
